New Delhi: To expedite the completion of 24 stalled housing projects being developed by bankrupt private developer Amrapali in Noida and Greater Noida, the Greater Noida Authority is likely to soon approve higher floor area ratio (FAR) in five of the projects, helping National Buildings Construction Corporation (NBCC) — a state-run real estate developer appointed by Supreme Court — complete the project by March 2025, ThePrint has learnt.
A higher FAR (ratio between a building’s total constructed floor area and the land area) will allow NBCC, which is under the administrative control of the Ministry of Housing and Urban Affairs, to construct more flats in the five projects that have unused land and sell them.
NBCC expects to get anywhere between Rs 1,500 crore and Rs 2,000 crore from the higher FAR, which it will use to pay off the pending dues owed by Amrapali to different agencies, senior officials in the Ministry of Housing and Urban Affairs told ThePrint.
Amrapali owes Noida and Greater Noida authorities over Rs 5,500 crore towards payment of lease money along with penal interest.
NBCC was appointed project management consultant (PMC) in 2019 to complete the 24 stalled Amrapali projects, comprising 38,500 flats. Amrapali had declared itself bankrupt and abandoned the projects, leaving thousands of homebuyers who had invested in them, in a lurch.
A senior ministry official, who did not want to be named, said that the Greater Noida Industrial Development Authority (GNIDA) will shortly approve the NBCC’s proposal allowing higher FAR.
While GNIDA had originally approved a FAR of 2.75 in the Amrapali projects, NBCC has proposed that in five projects, where land is available, it should be increased to 3.5.
“We will build vertically in the extra land. No land earmarked for parks or common facilities will be taken up for the construction,” a second housing ministry official told ThePrint.
ThePrint reached GNIDA CEO Ravi Kumar N.G over phone and WhatsApp, but he was unavailable for comment. The report will be updated as and when he responds.
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Homebuyers closer to getting their dream home
After running from pillar to post for years and almost losing hope, thousands of homebuyers are now inching closer to getting possession of their dream homes in the stalled Amrapali housing projects.
Housing ministry officials said that over five years after the Supreme Court appointed NBCC as PMC to complete the pending 38,500 flats, the agency has finished construction of 15,500 flats in 12 projects, while another 15,000 units will be completed by December 2024.
“NBCC has set a March 2025 deadline to complete the remaining flats,” one of the officials added.
Once the 24 projects are completed, it could show the way for the completion of other similar stalled projects in the region, the official added.
Several real estate developers, including groups like Jaypee, Unitech and Supertech reportedly have stalled projects and are facing insolvency proceedings in the National Company Law Tribunal or the Supreme Court.
How did a govt agency manage
When NBCC was made the PMC, there were reservations if the government-run real estate developer would be able to raise the approximately Rs 8,500 crore required to complete the 38,000 unfinished flats.
On the direction of the apex court, an escrow account with Rs 19 crore was opened, in which money recovered from various sources, including selling Amrapali assets, was to be deposited. But, it was just a small proportion of the fund that was needed. It was a challenging task, senior NBCC officials admitted.
The agency had proposed to raise Rs 3,700 crore from the existing homebuyers (who were yet to pay the full amount for the properties they had invested in), but it could only get Rs 2,300 crore, the first housing ministry official said.
“It raised another Rs 2,800 crore by selling unsold inventory and Rs 2,000 crore from Amrapali properties attached by the authorities across the country,” the official added.
Then, the NBCC proposed to raise another Rs 2,000 crore from selling the unused FAR.
“NBCC also took a soft loan of Rs 1,500 crore from a consortium of banks and at one point infused our own funds when there was an acute scarcity,” the official quoted earlier added.
While Amrapali was one of the first real estate projects where NBCC was appointed the PMC, the state-run agency has several high-ticket government redevelopment projects under its belt, where work is underway. These include the 10-storeyed World Trade Centre that has replaced the government housing colonies in Nauroji Nagar, redevelopment of AIIMS and government colonies in Sarojini Nagar and Netaji Nagar in Delhi, among others.
(Edited by Richa Mishra)
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